Could Tumblety's Boat Have Been Intercepted?

[c.d.]

It is late in the day and I haven't thought this through (as if that has ever stopped me) but...could the police have intercepted Tumblety's boat? I think it would have been a reasonable assumption that he was escaping back to America. How many boats could there have been that he might have been on? Couldn't they have sent a wire to the boats with his description? Was that possible then? Could he have been arrested at sea? Would that have been legal? Any thoughts?

c.d.

[Graham]

It is late in the day and I haven't thought this through (as if that has ever stopped me) but...could the police have intercepted Tumblety's boat? I think it would have been a reasonable assumption that he was escaping back to America. How many boats could there have been that he might have been on? Couldn't they have sent a wire to the boats with his description? Was that possible then? Could he have been arrested at sea? Would that have been legal? Any thoughts?

c.d.

CD,

I think a quick visit to Wikipedia or somewhere might have been in order before you sent this post - in short, there was no radio in 1888. The first murderer to be apprehended at sea courtesy of radio was old Crippen in 1911 (date?)

As it happens, he could have been arrested at sea and returned to England to be tried under English law but only if the ship he was travelling on was registered as an English ship. If memory serves, I think he was on a French ship, so he could only be returned to England by means of an extradition warrant arranged after he landed in the USA and agreed to by American authorities. I think.

Cheers,

Graham

[c.d.]

Hi Graham,

I was thinking of a telegraph message.

c.d.

[Natalie Severn]

I think they already had a couple of police on that ship posing as engineers,c.d.But isnt the real mystery is why they let him go?

[Graham]

Hi Graham,

I was thinking of a telegraph message.

c.d.

CD,

Could a ship tap into the transatlantic telegraph cable? Don't think so, somehow.

Cheers,

Graham

[c.d.]

As I said, it is late in the day.......

c.d.

[Graham]

As I said, it is late in the day.......

c.d.

It sure is! Dormez bien.

Graham

[Sam Flynn]

Could a ship tap into the transatlantic telegraph cable? Don't think so, somehow.

Indeed not, Graham - but they could have sent a message to the other end and launched a speedboat to intercept it. Well, maybe not a speedboat, but...

[perrymason]

I believe the first message ever sent from a ship at sea was the Morse Code distress signal that Titanic sent.

Cheers all.

[Mitch Rowe]

I believe the first message ever sent from a ship at sea was the Morse Code distress signal that Titanic sent.

Cheers all.

That would have been the first use of SOS as a distress signal. Before that a ship would send CQD or QRR I believe.

However..The Titanic incident forced some major changes in the way wireless was used in the maritime industry. Before Titanic wireless was considered unreliable and was little used for official business. Most messages were trivial mush sent from passengers to relatives on shore. Radio operators had no set schedual and could not be relied upon to be at the radio in time of need.

Titanic changed all that. It was realized that radio could be made reliable and it could be the most useful life saving tool ever invented for the maritime industry. Regulations were implemented. Systems and networks were improved. And there is no doubt they saved many many lives.

[aspallek]

Well, not exactly. Wireless telegraph was still relatively new at the time of the Titanic (1912) but it was by no means brand new. Titanic's two wireless operators, Bride and Phillips, were kept busy the whole trip sending personal telegrams for their wealthy passengers. When out of range of either Newfoundland or Ireland, as the case may have been, messages would have to be relayed from ship to ship to shore. I believe the Titanic was not actually the first ship to use SOS rather than CQD but the SOS signal was new at the time. Incidentally, SOS does not "stand for" any words or phrase. It is simply a combination that is easy to send and interpret in Morse (dit-dit-dit, daat-daat-daat, dit-dit-dit). It used to be said that CQD stood for "Come Quickly Danger" but this is a myth as well.

What did come of the Titanic disaster was the requirement for 24-hour Marconi (radio) surveillance. There was a ship within range of Titanic's signal that was close enough to assist the wireless operator was not monitoring his equipment.

As to intercepting the boat in 1888, it would not be possible to dispatch a boat to catch up with it. Even if there was a boat fast enough there would be no way to know the ship's precise location. What they would have done would be to contact authorities at the arrival port, in this case New York, and have the ship boarded by police before any passengers were allowed off.

[Dan Norder]

I believe the first message ever sent from a ship at sea was the Morse Code distress signal that Titanic sent.

The Crippen case, which was already mentioned in this thread, happened two years before the Titanic sank. Of course there were also other messages sent that weren't as famous. Perhaps you should stop just believing in things and start looking things up instead.